From army and shooting ranges, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore now joins government

NEW DELHI: Having excelled in shooting ranges, ace marksman Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has now hit target in the political arena as well, getting a berth in the Narendra Modi government today as a Minister of State in his maiden stint as an MP.

43-year-old Rathore, who rose to fame when he won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens finishing second in the double trap shooting event, made a successful transition to politics, winning the Lok Sabha polls from Jaipur Rural constituency earlier this year.

He had decided to take a shot at politics last September when he joined BJP after taking voluntary retirement from the army as a Colonel.

After entering politics, Rathore had contended, "I must not back out when the nation is faced with a different kind of threat."

After passing out of the National Defence Academy, Rathore served the army for 23 years.

Besides his Olympic silver medal, Rathore also won a gold medal and set a new games record of 192 targets out of 200 at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, which stands to this day.

He went on to successfully defend his Commonwealth Championship title by winning the yellow metal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006. He won gold medals in two World Shooting Championships, at Sydney in 2004 and Cairo in 2006.